Welcome Home
by AwkwardAvellana
Summary: Kaminari Denki never really knew the meaning of family until Jirou Kyouka slowly opened her own home and her heart to the lonely boy. (Follows Canon-Manga *spoilers* )
1. Chapter 1

Hello everyone!

Sorry for taking so long to release this new piece, but let's just say that a lot of preparation has gone into this story line!

Quick background info: this takes place after the Internship Arc, but before Final Exams.

I will try to follow as much of the canon timeline as possible so warning !~*SPOILERS*~!

Feel free to leave a review and let me know what you think! ~Enjoy

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Jirou Kyouka stared up at the sky full of pink and orange hues as the sun began to set. It was Friday night and she was on her way to the bakery on her mom's request. It was nice not having to stress too much about classes, but she knew this feeling was going to be short-lived. This weekend was going to mark the end of her free time before having to go into serious study mode. Class 1-A had it pretty easy after the internships, but finals exams were now only two weeks away.

After turning onto the main street, Jirou spotted an all too familiar place. She had some extra time before dinner so Jirou decided to make a quick stop at Marley's Notes. She made her way to the old wooden door and pushed it open as a soft ring from the bell above the door notified the store of her presence. The whole shop felt like something out a movie. There were concert posters dated decades back plastered across the red brick walls and the racks of media at almost every turn. The store seemed to only sell merchandise such as old vinyl records, cassettes, and CDs. However, other sorts of music-related items were on display in random parts of the room, such as the signed guitars and vintage t-shirts that were being worn by head-banging mannequins. This was a music junkie's paradise.

"Hey kid, it's been a while!" yelled out a deep voice as Jirou stepped into the store.

"Uncle Marley, I came by last week so cut me some slack," she yelled back. The source of the voice was a man sitting behind the counter with a book in his hand.

"Mhm… You use to come around every day before you got into that hero school. Your generation is all about growing up and saving the world with your quirks, but you know, you need to take some time-"

"…to take care of the soul and what better way to do it than with good music. I know, that's why I'm here," Jirou couldn't resist letting out a cheeky smile.

"You say it like I'm that predictable. Am I really getting to be that old?" Marley let out a low chuckle. His long curly hair was tied back into braided ponytail and his yellow round specs sat low on the bridge of his nose with no real purpose other than being a facial decoration. His brown fringe vest and bell-bottom pants looked like they were from another era, but oddly enough fit in perfectly with the shop.

"You still have a ways to go before I call you an old man! My dad's a different story though," Jirou laughed off. "Oh hey, has my request come in yet? It's been like a month."

"Sorry kiddo, it's going to be at least another week. Quirks may have changed the rest of the world, but international shipping still takes a while if you want stuff from the other side of the pond," Marley said.

"That's fine. I just hope it comes before the class trip. It would be nice to have new stuff to listen to by then,"

"You're acting as if you've already listened to everything in the shop! Go check out the new releases I just stocked up on, I know a thing or two in that stack are down your alley," Marley pointed towards the back of the shop where all of the "new" merchandise was stocked.

"Yeah, yeah. Are you closing up soon or is there someone else in here?" Jirou looked around the place, which seemed pretty quiet.

"There's a fella that came in asking about a song. I asked him he tried finding it online, but he said that a friend recommended he listen to it on another media. The poor boy didn't have a clue as how to use the equipment, but he at least seemed interested," Marley said as he shook his head with judgment, "Help him out if it looks like he's going to break something."

"Sure, but only if I don't scare him away first," Jirou grinned.

"I rather you did. That's less costly for me." The punk girl could only snort in response since she knew he was only kidding. Marley didn't really care about things getting broken in the shop, but much more if people were honestly appreciating the music for what it was.

The silence of the store was comforting as Jirou made her way down the aisle to her back of the store until she saw a peak of blonde spikes from the edge of the aisle. She took a few more steps towards the blond head to find that it was her classmate, Kaminari Denki. Wearing a casual white t-shirt and a pair of dark jeans, her classmate was sitting on a stool with his arms crossed and his eyes closed. He must have gotten carried away to whatever he was listening to because he made no movement as Jirou carefully made her way closer.

She was close enough to hear the melody of the song thanks to her quirk and was surprised to hear the same song she had been talking to Kaminari about that morning. A small gasp escaped her lips, which was apparently enough for the boy's sixth sense to kick in and finally notice that he had company.

"Jirou!?" He yelled as he awkwardly stood in a rush thus knocking over the stool and having the headphones pulled off his head, "Ouch, W-what are you doing here? I-I mean not that you can't be here but um… Hi?"

The silence was broken by a fit of laughter as Jirou was leaning over trying to hold it in as best she could.

"It wasn't that funny," he huffed, picking up the tipped over stool.

"It was," Jirou tried to settle down and wiped away a tear. "Kaminari, you sure you haven't short circuited?"

"No, and you'd probably freak out too if someone popped out of nowhere like that!"

"My bad, I'm a regular around here though. Why are you here?"

"I didn't really have much to do today so I thought I'd check this place out. You always mention it whenever you talk about getting new music so I knew it had to be good," His eyes wondered around the room, "It's honestly way cooler than what I expected!"

"That's thanks to Marley, he decorated the place with the help of my parents and a couple of friends,"She glanced over at the now abandoned headphones, still playing away the familiar song. "So what were you listening so deeply to that I scared you?"

"Ahh nothing really, I just grabbed a random tape since I never used one before," he said nervously, taking out the tape out and putting it back in the case.

"You need to rewind that, idiot."

"Rewind what?" Kaminari looked down at the cassette, unsure of what she was talking about.

Jirou reached out and grabbed the small box from Kaminari's hand, "Just give it here." She decided not to push the topic anymore for now, "If you ever need any help around here, just ask. I practically grew up here."

"I'll definitely take you up on that then."

A bass solo started to play from Jirou's phone before she could manage the tape. "Uh give me a sec. It's my mom." Kaminari turned around and started to look through a rack of vinyl records to give the girl some privacy. "Hey mom, did you need something?"

 _"Your dad wanted to remind you that he wanted one of the kitty red buns, not the regular ones."_

"Yeah, I know. I'll head there now. Anything else?"

 _"Oh, did you stop by Marley's?"_

"Yeah, and I ran into friend here at the shop, but I'll be home soon."

 _"Invite your Uncle Marley and your friend over for dinner. I made plenty of extra food so it's fine."_

"I'll just tell Uncle Marley. We don't have to-"

 _"Kyouka put your friend on the phone."_

"Yes, ma'am." Jirou couldn't help, but sigh. She should have gone to straight to the bakery. "Hey Kaminari, do you have any dinner plans?"

"No, why?"

"Don't argue, okay?" Jirou handed over her phone. "Here, my mom wants to talk to you."

"Okay?" Kaminari stared at the phone for a second before looking back at Jirou who was nervously fiddling with her earphone jacks. "Hello? Ah nice to meet you Mrs. Jirou. We're classmates at UA. Yes, I'm Kaminari Denki. Um… No, ma'am. I love curry. Ah yes. Okay. Thank you for the invitation. Good-bye." Kaminari ended the call and handed Jirou back her phone.

"Sooo?" Jirou dragged out.

"I guess I'm going to your place for dinner and you should get extra bread at the bakery," he said. Jirou wasn't sure what to make of his reaction since he didn't look upset or even nervous at the thought of meeting her parents.

"You could have said no, you know," Jirou said as she shook her head. She was getting way too ahead of herself. Her mom didn't seem like the "motherly-type" but she loved fussing over her friends whenever they were over.

"Well, it's not like I have anyone waiting for me at home," Kaminari muttered, taking back the cassette.

"What?" That was the first time Jirou heard Kaminari mention anything about his home life and it definitely wasn't what she was expecting.

"Forget it. Let's go before the bakery closes!" Kaminari switched topics as they walked back towards the front of the store. For the second time that day, Jirou chose not to pry. She wanted to, but she knew this wasn't the time or place to do it.

Once by the counter, she handed her uncle the cassette, "Uncle Marley, he's not going to buy it. But more importantly, the rents want you to come over for dinner. I think Mom made too much curry again."

"Alright, I'll close up shop and head over in a few," he said. "Wait, you know this kid?"

"We're classmates from UA," Kaminari quickly responded. "By the way, thanks for helping me out earlier with… well everything."

"Right," Marley did a quick head-to-toe glance at Kaminari before aiming his attention back at Jirou, "Kyouka, I'll be at the house in five minutes. I want to see your dad's reaction to this."

"Oh god, let's go Kaminari!" Jirou pulled Kaminari out the door while Marley let out a good laugh.


	2. Chapter 2

Hello everyone! Sorry for taking so long to update, but I recently started grad school and my schedule ended up being busier than what I expected. Just as a heads up, I will only be updating every other week on Wednesdays, probably at some odd hour in the morning (CT) because I have a very strange sleep pattern. I might post randome one-shot on off weeks but we'll see how that goes.

To the guest who called themselves the random reader, thank you so much for your review it made me unbelievably happy and I hope you enjoy this chapter (and the many more that are going to come). I'm sorry for being unable to respond sooner, that has to do with how the site is. So for anyone (with or without a FF account) if you would like to leave an anonymous review and get a quick response, free feel to submit an anonymous ask at tumblr: etsukotez. There is a direct link on my profile.

~I hope you guys enjoy this chapter!~

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"Are you sure this is fine?" Kaminari asked. Jirou was carrying the bag full of requested bread while held he held on to the extra drinks they picked up from the convenient store. An awkward silence stood in between the two since they left the store and Kaminari could only assume that Jirou was upset. "I mean, if you really don't want me over I could just leave now."

"My mom's expecting you and it's really not a big deal. I just…" Jirou groaned. Her frustration was obvious as she tried to word her feelings. "I haven't had many friends like you come over in the past, okay?"

"Like me?" Kaminari paused a moment to see Jirou trying to hide the scowl on her flustered face. "Oh, you mean someone from UA?"

"No, I meant none of them were stupid, geez! You're the first guy to come over!"

"Really?" That was a bit of a surprise to Kaminari. "So that means you've never brought home a boyfriend?"

"There was never any time for that. Studying for that UA entrance exam was hell and on top of that, my parents were always being invited to concerts and events so if I wanted to go that meant there wasn't any time for other stuff," Jirou explained.

"So you must be pretty close with your parents," Kaminari asked.

"Yeah, even though they're in the music biz the pressure was never there to follow in their steps. I think that's why it's so easy to get along with them," Jirou smiled. "But you'll see for yourself in a minute. We're here."

Jirou opened the front gate that led to a two story house, just before Kaminari spoke up, "Wait, Jirou is there anything I should know about your parents or your uncle? Any musicians I shouldn't bring up or something?"

He never really thought about Jirou's parents as parents. At school, he always talked about them as though they were cool, laid-back celebrities. But with each step closer to the house, Kaminari's nerves were getting the best of him.

"I guess, as long as you don't ask my Mom difference between punk and rock, you'll be fine with her. Oh, and I'm pretty sure Uncle Marley likes you or he would have kicked you out the shop." Jirou stepped up to the front door. "There is one thing… Don't take my dad too seriously,"

"What do you mean?!" Kaminari was more nervous now than he was before he asked her.

"I'm back!" Jirou yelled, carelessly flipping off her shoes so to not to place the bread down.

"Get in here! We're ready to eat!"

Kaminari followed Jirou down the hallway full of framed pictures. He took quick glances at each one they passed, trying to take in as much of Jirou's past as he could. Some were just newspaper clippings, but most showed his classmate at different stages of her life, always standing next to someone new. It wasn't until they had reached the kitchen that Kaminari realized he recognized some of the people Jirou was posing with. Before he could ask Jirou, Kaminari was confronted by who he could only assume was his friend's dad.

"So you're Kyouka's friend from UA?" The man asked. He wasn't taller than Kaminari, but the look on his face showed that he was being serious.

"Yes Sir! My name is Kaminari Denki. Thank you for inviting me over for dinner." Kaminari said.

"I didn't, my wife did."

"Ah right, then sorry for the intrusion, sir," Kaminari wasn't sure what to do. Jirou had left his side and he could see Marley sitting at the table, enjoying the ongoing confrontation.

"Leave the poor boy alone! Hi there, we spoke on the phone. I'm Miku and this is my husband Kyoutoku."

"How am I supposed to find out if he's a good influence on my daughter without asking a few questions? You know a lot of kids now a days want to be heroes for the money and fame of it all."

"This is better than what I expected," Marley spoke up. "But I'm ready to eat so give the boy a second to breathe and let's get to that curry before it gets cold."

"Just sit down, Kaminari," Jirou pushed Kaminari away from her father and towards the table, making him take the sit on the round table between Marley and herself. The table had already been set with a place of curry and rice for each person and once Jirou's parents had sat down, the five began to eat. Unsure what questions Kyoutaku was going to ask him, Kaminari decided to break the ice first, in hopes of making a good impression.

"So was that really Jean Cimmons eating cake with Jirou in the picture down the hall?" Kaminari asked, hoping to break the awkward tension in the room.

"You recognized Jean?" Kyoutoku's face light up with excitement. "I didn't think anyone from this generation would know about him aside from our Kyouka! It's not just him eating an regular cake in the picture either, you want to hear the story, Denki-boy?"

Marley simply shook his head, "You lasted longer than I thought you would, but you blew your cover, my friend."

"If he knows who Jean Cimmons is then he has to be a good kid," was the father's reply.

"Of all the pictures on the wall, you had to bring that one up," Jirou sighed, "I told you. My parents are always attending events, which is really just an excuse for musicians to hang out. So get ready for a trip down memory lane."

Jirou was right. Her dad and Marley ended up taking over the dinner conservation with stories of their days in the music industry. Jirou's mom would add her own experiences into the mix here and there but Jirou herself stayed relatively quiet. Kaminari was relieved that the attention wasn't on him, but was also more than happy to say the occasional "So cool!" and "Seriously?!" throught out the talk.

"You two never get tired of reliving those days,"Mika chimed in as she started to gather the plates off the table, after everyone had finished eating the bread for dessert. "Although you make it seem as if you were the ones performing, not waiting around backstage."

"Ah well enough about us then. How is everything going at UA for you Denki?" Marley asked.

"Great, classes are tough, but I'm sure Jirou has said the same about UA," Kaminari was hoping that now Kyoutoku-san had taken a liking to him, the questions would be a bit easier to handle.

However, Kyoutoku had something else on his mind. "Denki, my boy, what's our Kyouka like in class? Is she every bit as sassy as she is at home?"

"Old man!" Jirou yelled out as her face grew hot and ears plug wiggled about. She had been zoning in and out of most of the conservation, but that had definitely brought her back to reality.

Kaminari tried to ignore the fuming Jirou next to him as he turned to properly face Kyouktoku-san, "I believe that your daughter is probably one of the coolest people in our class when she's not offending people with her rude remarks," Kaminari quickly said.

"Geez, you didn't have to be so honest," Kyouka complained as she crossed her arms. "I'd have more good things to say about you if you didn't act so stupid all the time."

"You've literally called me a dumbass for wanting to be a sidekick! How is that stupid?!" Before Jirou could say another word, Kyoutoku and Marley both burst out laughing at that duo.

"That answers my question, kid. I was just messing with ya both,"

"Just don't zap me for it later,"

"No promises, but I think you should be making your way home."

"Yeah, it's getting late." Kaminari stood from his chair and thanked the family for their hospitality, as Jirou tried to rush the process in efforts of avoiding anymore embarrassing topics.

"Come back soon Denki-boy!" yelled out Kyouka's dad from the kitchen.

"I'm going to walk Kaminari to the main street, be right back!"

They put on their shoes and walked out the front door before Jirou's dad could say another word. Once they made it on to the street, Jirou felt comfortable enough to talk again.

"Sorry about all of this tonight, my folks get carried away sometime," Jirou said with a slight frown evident on her face.

"It was fun hearing your family's stories, but I did want to ask you something," Kaminari took a deep breath before asking, "What's Marley's story? Just looking at you guys, I know that he's not actually related to you and he's obviously worked with your parents, but how did he end up at the shop?"

He was expecting a snarky response or even the cold shoulder. But to his surprise, she didn't miss a beat. "Marley has been friends with my dad long before they met my mom. He was a big name in the music industry during those times thanks to his own quirk, Audio tuner. He has the ability to see and change sound waves."

"No way, that has to be a rare quirk! I've heard of noise canceling quirks and obviously there are sound producing quirks like your family's and Present Mic's, but that's got to be awesome!"

"Yeah, big time, that's why Marley was especially wanted by major music labels."

"For scouting purposes?"

"Nice to see you actually using your brain for once Kaminari," Kaminari only scoffed in response as she continued. "He was able to determine a singer's potential in minutes, make recording sessions and live concerts go smoothly, but most importantly for the labels, make money for them like crazy. Then one day, he just quit and opened up the shop. He never said why and no one in the industry ever released a formal statement about it either.

"How can someone so famous just disappear like that?" Kaminari questioned.

"He wasn't really famous with the public. He was more like an urban legend among musicians until they would finally meet him." Jirou explained.

"Still… to be that successful with your quirk and to suddenly change your life overnight," Kaminari stared down the empty street, enjoying the slight chill of the night. "It's almost like a professional hero getting into an accident and being told he can't do hero work anymore."

Jirou turned to look at Kaminari, "Yeah, but in that case, the hero didn't want to stop working. Uncle Marley chose to leave. Anyways, it happened years ago and he's happy with the life he has at the shop now."

"How do you know that if he never talks about it?" Kaminari saw Jirou's jack spring towards his chest. In that split second, he could only wonder if his comment really came off as that rude. He squeezed his eyes shut waiting for the usual zap, but all he felt was a slight tap over his heart.

"The heart never lies," Jirou whispered, when she suddenly realized what she was said and retracted her ear jacks. "Or at least that's what my mom says about heartbeats and crap."

"That's pretty cute," Kaminari smirked. Instead of chancing another ear jack attack, Kaminari took off sprinting towards the station.

"Cute?" Jirou stopped in her tracks, watching her classmate get further and further away from her.

"I can make my way to the station from here! Thanks for dinner Jirou!" Kaminari yelled, turning the corner and disappearing from her view completely.

"Idiot," Jirou said, before focusing her attention on getting rid of the blush on her face on the way home.


	3. Chapter 3

~Next day~

"Kyouka, come down stairs!"

"What's up Mom?" Jirou called out as she entered the kitchen. It was Saturday morning and she had nothing but homework scheduled for the day. Or so, she had planned.

"I just got a call from Marley. Apparently your friend left behind his bag at the store yesterday," she explained.

"Of course he did," Kyouka sighed. "Thanks Mom, I'll let Kaminari know."

"Kyouka, why don't you invite him over again?" Jirou looked up at her mom and saw a hint of a smile.

"Why? I think you guys embarrassed me enough for one weekend. Besides, I have homework to work on today," she tried to argue.

"Then invite him over to do homework. I'll make some snacks for you kids.

"You really don't have to do that Mom," Jirou was sure that this had become a pointless argument since her mom always got her way. But, hey she could at least try.

"I don't know what it was, but it seems like he doesn't get home cooked meals very often. Besides, your father is meeting up with some friends who are in to town for the day. Consider yourself saved."

"You're not going?"

"I was going to practice in the studio, but if you want me out of the house that badly I could go out," her mother responded.

"I didn't mean it like that," Jirou blushed at what her mom suggested.

Jirou took out her phone and started to type away a message for JammingWheyyy. She started to type out 'Idiot', but for some reason decided to against it and continued on with the message.

'You left your bag at the store yesterday'

She didn't have to wait long before her phone lit up to notify her of a response.

'Thanks for letting me know! I didn't even notice it was gone!'

"Pfft… Idiot," Jirou couldn't help but smile as she continued to type.

'You need to get started on that homework soon if you're going to get it done by Monday.'

Another quick response.

'Can I see your notes then? I think I might have messed on one of the formulas.'

It was an innocent question. Jirou tapped away her reply and pressed enter before doubt could come over her.

'I'm working on the Math portion now. Do you want to come over?'

It wasn't like this was anything weird. She was just inviting over a friend to work on homework. Her mom insisted on him coming over if he dared to ask why.

Her phone lit up again and her fingers moved faster than normal to open the response.

'That would be great! I'll be there by 2pm.'

Jirou checked the time and realized that she had a few hours before his arrival.

-2 Hours Later-

'Stopping by to grab my bag now. I'll be at your place in a few'

Kaminari sent Jirou just as he was approaching Marley's shop. He shouldn't have been so careless, especially with all of his school stuff. Aizawa-sensei would kill him if he knew that Kaminari had lost all of his homework.

"I must be going crazy," he said before hearing a familiar laugh.

"I bet you are if came back," said Marley as he walked up to the front door.

"Sorry! Were you closed today?"

"Nah, I'm just coming back from a late lunch break. Come on in."

Kaminari followed the man into the store before awkwardly stopping at the front. As far as he knew, Marley was like a second dad to Jirou and he wasn't sure what type of impression he had left on the guy up to this point.

"If you're wondering about your bag, I have it behind the register here."

"Thank you, sir. Sorry to have burdened you and your shop," Kaminari did a small bow, grateful to have his bag back in his possession.

"Stop stressing out kid and do I look that old to you that you need to call me sir?" Marley complained.

"Um... no?"

"Exactly! Just call me Marley, alright Denki?"

"Right... Marley," said Kaminari nervously, but a thought came across him mind that seemed to have wiped away all of those nerves, "I was wondering if I could buy the cassette I was listening to yesterday and maybe anything else you would recommend?"

"Denki, my man. I am liking you more by the minute!" Marley laughed, put his arm around Kaminari and led him down to his favorite aisle.

-Later at Jirou's House-

"I thought you got lost for a second there," Jirou said as she closed the door behind Kaminari.

"Sorry, I was just talking with Marley for a bit."

"Oh, did he force you to buy something?"

"He didn't force me... I kind of asked him for some recommendations," scratching his head, Kaminari admitted.

"No wonder, it's a damn miracle that he let you go at all. If there's one thing I know about that guy it's that he'll talk somebody's ear off about his favorite music."

"Yeah, I could tell," Kaminari opened his bag to show Jirou the multiple cassettes and a couple of CDs he bought. "But it was a cool discussion so I didn't really mind. Besides, when I was told him that I was on my way here, he practically kicked me out the store," Kaminari tried to laugh off. He purposely excluded the fact that Marley said that Kaminari shouldn't keep his girlfriend waiting.

"Hey Kaminari? Did you zap something on you way here? Hello! Denki?"

"Did you just called me by my…?"

"Called you what? Come on, we've got to finish the homework," Jirou left before he could further question her.

Kaminari frowned, he must of been hearing things. So, he followed Jirou down the hall just as he did the night before, turning right into the living room.

Jirou seemed to have already started working on the homework while she was waiting for him, based off of the half-finished problem on her paper.

"How bad is it?" Kaminari asked.

"I honestly thought it was going to be easier, but at this point I just hope to finish at least the math portion today," Jirou's frustration evident by the crumpled pieces of scrap paper on the floor.

"Is it really that bad?! How far along are you?"

"I'm only half way through the math."

"Heh… Hehe.. I'm definitely doomed!" Kaminari cried as he fell to his knees.

"Idiot, as long as you've taken good notes in class you'll be fine. Let me see your notebook," Jirou stuck out her hand and waited. Kaminari slowly opened his bag and grabbed it, but hesitated to hand it over.

"Don't judge me too harshly, okay?"

"Come on, it can't be that bad?" Jirou opened the booklet only to find incomplete notes for each lesson that seemed to end in the same illegible squiggles. "Did you seriously fall asleep in the middle of each math session?"

"It's just so hard to focus. It's right before lunch I'm usually weak from waiting to eat," Kaminari said as he slammed his head on to the table.

Jirou was about to lecture him when she remembered her mom's comment about him not eating proper meals. She let out a sigh before dropping the note book on to the table. "Have you eaten anything today?"

"I grabbed a juice on my way here," Kaminari whined.

"Wait here," was all she said before walking away. She made her way to the kitchen half expecting her mother to pop out, but all she found was a plate with full of snacks and a bottle of juice on a tray. A small note laid next to the food, innocently saying 'Hope this holds you until dinner'

She grabbed the tray and made her way back to the living room only to find that Kaminari hadn't moved an inch since she's left.

"Oy, if you're not going to make an effort to at least copy my notes I might as well put the food back."

Kaminari sat right back up as Jirou place down the tray. The excitement in his face showed that food was definitely enough of a motivating factor for the blond.

"Don't hold yourself back, my mom went all out once I told her you were coming over to study."

"I'll have to thank her later! Thanks for the food!" Kaminari grabbed a riceball and bit down with the look of satisfaction on his face.

"You know you could stay for dinner. My mom is probably going to make extra since you're already here,"

"Really!? I mean, maybe some other time? I know that the weekend is precious family time for some people."

"Nah, it been a chill weekend. My dad went out to spend the day with some old band mates that are in town. I probably won't see him until tomorrow morning. He's not a heavy drinker, but he'll start singing away to every song he knows when he gets loose."

"Oh, your dad sings? He didn't mention that yesterday," Kaminari asked, grabbing a piece of cut up fruit from the plate.

"He doesn't. He only composes music, but that doesn't stop him from singing like he's at karaoke whenever he's around other musicians," Jirou said as she cracked a genuine smile and Kaminari couldn't help but smile back.

"I'll have to ask him to sing something the next time I come around then!" Kaminari cheered.

"There won't be a next time if you don't finish your work," Jirou said, the smile on her face quickly replaced with a frown.

"But you like having me around! Why else would you invite me over two days in a row?" Kaminari smirked, his cocky attitude being unable to protect him from Jirou's earjacks.

"Say one more thing that doesn't have deal with the homework and I'll kick you out," Jirou stuffed another riceball into Kaminari's mouth for good measure, and went back to working on her abandoned problem.

Even if her zap took down his ego, Kaminari was happy that Jirou cared enough to feed him.

-Later that evening-

"I'm back," Kaminari muttered under his breath. The old house was silent, except for the creaking floorboards under his feet. His stomach groaned, complaining about not having stayed over at the Jirou's for dinner. Her mother had been very insistent on staying, but let him go when he promised to return during the week. Kaminari took off his shoes and wondered down the dark hall until he reached the kitchen, in hopes of finding something to munch on. Kaminari froze in shock when he saw a dark figure sitting at table. "What are you doing here?"

"Is that any way to greet your grandmother?" The dark figure spoke in a stern voice.

They stood up and walked out of the shadows, revealing a short woman with a head full of white hair, minus the black streak just above her left ear. Her eyes, an exact replica of Kaminari's piercing golden orbs, lacked any sense of emotions that might have once been there. There was no doubt that this woman looked his grandmother, but he didn't want to acknowledge her as one.

"Tsk, I see that you have yet to pick up any manners, despite going to such a heroic school," she said, mocking UA as if it were a waste of her breath.

"I only respect those who deserve it," he growled, but stood still.

"Ah yes, as if my generosity of allowing you to live in this shell of a shack and granting you a monthly allowance is not enough to earn your respect," She may seem like a frail woman to the average person, but that didn't stop her from walking as if nothing would cross her path to where Kaminari stood.

Kaminari bit down on his lip. He knew better than to act this way for his own sake. "Please… please disregard my behavior. I sincerely apologize."

"Yes, that will do. However," The old women laid a single finger upon Kaminari's arm. He couldn't help but flinch at the cold touch he hadn't felt in years. "It's good to know that some habits don't die."

"Is there a reason for why you wanted to see me?" Kaminari strained to hold his composure.

"Ah yes, there have been a few rumors roaming about. It seems like the path of the heroes is going to become more difficult quite soon."

"The media says that the Hero Killer was already caught," Kaminari replied, he wouldn't let her get the best of him.

"This is beyond what those fools know," The old women slowly removed her finger before she spoke again, "Reconsider your future."

"We already discussed this. I left the house because-"

"Yes, yes. I recall that argument quite well. However, a dangerous situation is unfolding as we speak. " His grandmother cut him off before he could bring up another word. "You may not like it, but our blood ties us together. You could be of use to the family if you choose to accept it.

The boy closed his eyes shut, ignoring the flashbacks running through his mind. Kaminari struggled to say, "Is that all?"

"There is a package on the kitchen table along side your allowance. If you choose to take my words into consideration, open it and stop by the compound for a visit."

Kaminari knew the discussion was over as she made her way down the hall. He didn't have to turn around to know that she was long gone with the help of one her henchmen before even reaching the door. He looked over at the table and there was the package, exactly where his grandmother said it would be. Kaminari didn't have a doubt in his mind that he wanted to be hero as he walked over and picked it up. But, he knew better than anyone that circumstances could change a person's mind.

* * *

Sorry for missing the post date everyone! My midterms clashed with this update so that took priority this week. School is always first kids!

In order to make it up to everyone, I'll be taking requests for Kamijirou one-shots(1K word count). It doesn't have to be canon-universe either; I'll accept almost any type of alternate universe. High school, childhood friends, co-workers that hate each other but find out that they have the same weird obsession… Yeah, I'm down for that.

However, please know that I will not write anything that has to be rated as Mature. I'm just not comfortable releasing those types of works… for now.

Feel free to submit multiple requests. You can submit it as a comment below (let me know what you think of this chapter while you're at it) or you can drop in it my ask box on tumblr (my username is 'etsukotez' and kamijirou is my icon).

Thank you for your patience and I hope to hear from you soon!


	4. Chapter 4

~One Week Later~

Jirou couldn't help but sigh as she walked into classroom. This week had been full of nothing but studying for finals and the worst of it has yet to come.

"Hey, what are you listening to?" whispered Kaminari right into Jirou's ear.

A cold shiver ran down her shine before Jirou had a chance to respond, "I-Idiot! Don't sneak up on people like that!" She sent her jacks toward Kaminari's eyes, but he managed to duck before it was too late.

"Whoa, I'm getting a lot better at dodging those!" he chuckled. "But you're one to talk! I almost broke stuff in Marley's store last week because of you!"

"That was completely different," Jirou shrugged then dropped her bag down onto her desk. "Can't you see everyone is on edge?"

"Really? Why?" Kaminari asked while settling down his own things at his desk.

Jirou turned around in her seat, unsure how to explain that even with all the commotion she caused, everyone seemed dead. A few people like Mina and Kirishima who were normally the most talkative kids of the class were actually in their seats trying to nap, while others such as Sero and Ochako were trying to cram before class even started. "Because everyone has been focused on studying for the upcoming exams… Haven't you?"

"Uh no, that's what the review session with Yaomomo is for, right?"

Jirou didn't know whether to zap him for his response or herself for expecting a reasonable answer out of him for once. "Yeah, but it's not like we'll be able to go over all of the term material in one afternoon."

"But Yaomomo makes everything easy to understand. With her as the teacher, there's no way any of us can fail!"

"You weren't that confident yesterday Mr. Dead Last," Jirou snickered. Just as expected, Kaminari's face fell flat.

"Not cool, just not cool!" Kaminari shook his head as he walked towards the back of the room where Momo and Todoroki were talking. Probably to try and reassure himself that he had the right mentality, "And leave the nicknames to Bakugo!"

Jirou couldn't help but laugh. It wouldn't be a normal morning if Kaminari wasn't making a fuss.

"Oi Kyoukaaaa, you seem really happy this morning!" Mina chimed in once Kaminari was out of ear-shot.

"Oh hey Mina, I thought you were asleep?"

"Nope, I was enjoying the show!" Mina said as she innocently stood next to Jirou.

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"You know, just that you've been talking pretty often to Kaminari this week," Mina casually brought up.

"Well yeah, we sit right next to each other," Jirou knew where this was going. "I don't think it's possible for an hour to go by without him blabbing off about something. You should know since you sit on his other side."

"Okay, that's true. But I saw you guys leaving together every day this week!" Mina pressed on.

"What about Midoriya and Ochako? They walk home together all the time," Jirou felt slightly guilty for throwing them into the spotlight, but she didn't like what Mina was assuming.

"That's different though. They've been walking home together since day one and Class Prez is usually with them!"

The classroom door opened and Aizawa-sensei walked in as tired as always. Everyone rushed to get settled in their seats while Jirou couldn't have been more thankful for the unintentional rescue from Mina's interrogation.

It wasn't that she didn't have a point. Jirou did notice some changes this week as well. Kaminari was arriving to school a lot earlier than usual so their bickering started off the day sooner than before. He's also been trying to convince the others to hang out after school, but no one has taken him up on his offer due to the upcoming exams. He kept bugging her about it too as he would walk with her to the station, but Jirou promised that they could hang out at Marley's after they were through with exams.

Jirou wasn't complaining. He was a fun guy to be around and the easiest person to tease. She'd be lying to herself if she wasn't looking forward to their outing.

She slightly turned her head to take a peek over at the boy consuming her thoughts. Jirou bit down hard on her tongue to keep from laughing as she saw the grim look on Kaminari's face. She could only assume was that Momo put him in his place and told him to study. At least she wouldn't have to worry about getting distracted by him during class.

* * *

"Come on Jirou!" Kaminari begged as he followed Jirou out of the UA gates. The rest of the day had gone by quickly since everyone was too focused on the review materials or too tired to act out, but that didn't seem to stop Kaminari.

"No! The last time you came over to do homework, you kept stopping every 20 minutes for a break. I won't get any studying done with you around!" Jirou yelled while picking up the pace as other students looked her way to see what the commotion was about.

"Please! I'll be more motivated to study if I'm with someone. Besides, didn't I promise your mom I'd be over for dinner this week?" Kaminari plead.

"Damn it, Kaminari. Do you really not want to go home that badly?"

"W-what do you mean? I just don't want to be alone," he argued.

"It's easy to tell that you've been trying to avoid going home this whole week. But it doesn't make sense if you live on your own," She suddenly stopped and turned around, "Wait… Are you behind on rent or something?"

"What!? No!… Okay listen. There is a reason but it doesn't have to do with money or anything like that," Kaminari tried to explain but Jirou didn't look like she believed him, "Really! It's no big deal."

"If it's not a big deal then go home and deal with it."

"I-I can't I… just really can't right now," Kaminari stuttered to respond.

Jirou stared at him for a moment before slowly asking, "Why?"

"It's kind of complicated… Family stuff," he tried to laugh it off, but Jirou could tell from his forced laugh that Kaminari had already shared more than what he was comfortable with. Family drama was something she never had to deal with so she didn't know what to say to him.

"Fine," she gave in. "I guess you can't show up to the review session as a complete idiot or the rest of us won't be able to get any actual help from Momo."

"Sweet! Since it's on the way, we might as well stop by Marley's!" Kaminari took the lead before Jirou could say another word. She knew that it was a lost cause to argue back and decided to text her mom about the extra dinner guest they were having over.

Even though their conversation had been unexpectedly heavy, there wasn't a lot of time to ponder of it as they rushed through the train station to board the crowded train. Normally, Jirou would wait for a train with less people to arrive, but she didn't feel like asking Kaminari to wait since he seemed so eager to get to Marley's.

Unfortunately for Jirou, the person standing behind her had a low hanging tail that kept hitting her legs. It didn't really hurt but it was definitely a bother if she was going to be stuck like that the whole way home.

"Hey," Kaminari whispered.

"What?" Her frustration was obvious.

"You look uncomfortable. You can stand in front of me if you want?" Kaminari got lucky and was standing next to a hand rail. She was currently right next to him, but Jirou couldn't help but blush at how close they would be pressed up against each other.

"Don't try anything funny," Jirou said as she squeezed her way over. Kaminari had more than a couple of inches on her so she didn't have to worry about hitting his head.

"I won't, geez, have some faith in me," he shuffled back as much as he could to make room for her.

"You're friends with Mineta so that trust only goes so far."

"You can trust me a little more than him," Kaminari used one hand to grab onto Jirou's shoulder and the other to hold on tight to the hand rail to help keep their balance. "See, no funny business."

"I guess so," she muttered, happy that she had her back to him when they were so close.

The rest of the train ride was quiet and slowly emptied out with each stop until it was finally the duo's turn to get off. Any prior comments seemed completely brushed off by Kaminari since he was his normal self while they made their way to Marley's. It was only after they were a few steps into the shop that they heard Marley from the counter, "Kyouka, is that you? I can barely recognize you!"

"Stop acting so old," Jirou joked around, "It's only been a week."

"Well, you're going to find me dead that next time you come around if you keep taking so long to visit!"

"You haven't seen this guy since then either," She stressed as she made her way to the empty stool next to her uncle. She thought Kaminari would awkwardly stand around, but surprised her by jumping up and sitting on the counter. "…and why aren't you yelling at him to get off the counter?"

Marley looked over at Kaminari, "You haven't told her?"

"It didn't really come up…" Kaminari awkwardly answered.

Jirou looked back and forward between the two, "What exactly didn't come up, Kaminari?"

"Electro-man here has been coming around every day since his first visit," Marley explained, like a proud parents boasting about their kid.

"What? Seriously?" Jirou suddenly felt unsure about this new friendship between her uncle and her friend.

"I did ask you if you wanted to hang out, but you kept saying no," Kaminari ran a hand through his hair and avoided looking at Jirou.

"Yeah, because we have finals next week!" Jirou said after standing up from her seat.

Trying to stop a fight before it started, Marley made an effort to mediate between the two, "Don't bicker with the boy. You're not getting replaced, but he is good company."

"Yeah well good company or not, Kaminari should have been studying or did he forget to bring up that he's last in our class."

"JIROU!" Kaminari yelled, almost falling backwards over the counter. "Marley didn't need to know that!"

Marley simply waved it off, "We all have our strengths and such. It's not like I was any good at the books…"

"See! And I was studying… The meaning of music and how it helps the soul," Jirou rolled her eyes at how overly serious Kaminari looked until he cracked a smile. "That's not something we can learn at UA, you know."

"Yeah well you won't have to worry about learning anything at UA if Aizawa-sensei expels you for flunking the finals."

It was all laughs from Marley as Jirou and Kaminari continued to argue until the familiar sound of the door bell rung. Jirou couldn't help but look over to see who entered since Marley wouldn't even acknowledge the person less they spoke to him first.

Jirou was actually a bit surprised. They looked like someone with a 9-5 job in a typical black suit, hair slicked back, and suitcase in hand. There were no obvious clues for any physical quirks so they could have been quirk-less, despite the odd way they walked. Definitely not the regular type of music junkie that would come through on occasion.

"You know, it would be better for business if you actually talked to the people who walked in here," Jirou sighed.

"If they want to buy something, then they can come to me. I don't need to get out of my seat to provide unnecessary help." Jirou could only shake her head in agreement, but couldn't keep her eyes off the customer. They were obviously taking their time walking through each aisle, almost as if they were planning where to take each step they took. However, they didn't seem to have an ounce of interest in looking at any of the merchandise in the store. Marley must have noticed too and didn't seem very happy about it.

"Hey, I don't care how slow business is but if you're only walking through here to stay out of the heat then you better walk yourself right out the door!" Marley shouted. The person didn't seem surprised and responded "My apologies" before they walked right out the door.

"That was weird," Jirou stated the obvious.

Marley snorted, "'Not even the strangest one we got this week. Someone came in asking if I was the real Bob Marley yesterday, right Denki?"

"Um… yeah," Kaminari was completely out of it, staring off towards the door. "Jirou, you were right."

"Sure I was… But about what?" She questioned.

Kaminari jumped off the counter and grabbed his bag off the ground, "Heading to your place. I should probably try studying on my own before asking for help."

"You're agreeing with me now? You can't leave-"

"Look, I really have to go. I'll see you tomorrow at Yaomomo's. See ya Marley!" Before Jirou could even try to hold him back, Kaminari had already run out the door.

"That was sudden," Marley said and then patted Jirou on the head the same way he always did when she would get upset as a kid. "Sorry, your study date got canceled, but he seems like the type that would try to make it up to you later."

"I don't really care," She huffed, but didn't stop her uncle from comforting her. Jirou should have felt relieved, but some small part of her couldn't help feel a bit disappointed, "Besides, it wasn't a date."

"If you say so," was all Marley had to say.

* * *

Hey everyone, sorry for the long wait! These last few weeks have been pretty hectic and to make matters worse my phone completely died a week ago and I haven't been able to replace it yet. (Remember to back up all of your stuff people! I lost two one-shots and had to rewrite part of this chapter T-T… ) Anyways, the next chapter will be up pretty soon since I'll be done with classes in a week and I want to make some substantial progress with this story.

Feel free to let me know what you guys think of this chapter in the comment box below! I do read all of the comments so thank you very much to all of you wonderful people who have already done so!

Also, two quick notes! 1) I am still accepting requests for Kamijirou one-shots. I'll start releasing those as soon as I'm done with these summer classes! 2) I know the formatting has been off so I'll make an effort to fix the spacing issue(I can't fix it on my laptop for some reason) and any small grammar errors before the next update!

~Thanks for reading!~


	5. Chapter 5

Kaminari had to find him. There was no way he would have followed him and left without saying anything else. Sweat was streaming down the side of his face and his heart was frantic from the sudden encounter but he kept running, only slowing down to quickly check the alleys. He didn't have to go very far from Marley's shop before finding the same strange person in the suit casually waiting at the edge of what seemed like the darkest alley he had checked.

The man simply reached out his hand, fingers curling outward towards Kaminari. "If you're ready, let's go somewhere a bit more comfortable."

There was no arguing or questioning as to where they were going. Kaminari grabbed the man's hand tightly as the world around him faded away into nothing. He always hated this part of teleporting, so he shut his eyes tight until the journey was over and the man announced, "We're here."

Kaminari carefully opened his eyes to find himself in the kitchen of his own home. A slight wave of nausea hit him as he trudged over to the kitchen sink. "Always the kitchen," Kaminari joked, splashing cold water on to his face.

"It is the room I have most frequented in your home. It also happens to be-" The teleporter took a moment to inspect the almost bare room,"-the cleanest."

Feeling better now that the effects of instantaneous travel were gone, Kaminari cut straight to the chase. "Tomo, you're not following me around to lecture me on my hygiene so what gives?"

"You have not given the Boss a proper answer to her proposal."

"Tell her that I don't have an answer yet. The same way I told you yesterday and the day before that."

"I have already done so and she firmly stated to not return until I received something more affirmative from you," Kaminari was more bothered by his grandmother's demands than by Tomo.

Tomo was more loyal than any person could be and would follow orders until his final breath. No questions asked. That kind of service was one Kaminari always found strange and never found out the reason for, despite growing up under Tomo's watchful eye. "Why did you come into the shop though? It's unlike you to take unnecessary steps."

"Yes, but the Boss made it very clear to do what was necessary to bring you to her side fairly soon."

If he didn't get Tomo to stop soon, it was going to become an endless cycle of your grandmother said this and that,"You're avoiding my question."

"Very well, I was also told to pursue any lead that was of particular interest to you."

Kaminari lost all feeling in his body. His grandmother was the type of person that lived off of knowing the right information. This was the first time she showed that kind of interest in him. "Did she say why?"

"I believe the reason is obvious enough. You must give her a response that will satisfy her for the time being if you would like to avoid any mishaps," There was no threatening tone to his words. Kaminari knew what could or would happen if he chose to delay matters anymore.

"No choice huh," Kaminari scoffed. He felt like fool for not dealing with this earlier like Jirou had advised him to. "I'll visit her office before the start of my next term. That doesn't mean I'm accepting her proposal."

"I believe that she would prefer you stop by her residence."

"Like I said, I am not accepting her offer. I have no intentions of leaving UA right now, nor do I want to be her successor."

"Some things are unavoidable as much as we choose to fight destiny," The quote was drawn out, carried along by the sadness echoed in his voice.

"If I go against her then is it destiny that I end up like my mom?" Kaminari felt like he was a kid again. He filled with worry and always asking questions that he would never get real answers to.

"You have informed me with a sufficient amount of information to report. I'll be taking my leave." Tomo calmly dismissed Kaminari words and headed towards his preferred transporting location, "One small note, if I might add on my behalf."

Kaminari raised his hand and motioned for Tomo to continue.

"You appear happier since entering that hero school." A hint of a smile played along the edge of Tomo lips.

"I've made some good friends since then."

"It appears so. Remember to take good care of your friends, especially Miss Jirou Kyouka." In a blink of an eye Tomo disappeared, leaving behind nothing but a puff of smoke.

This wasn't good. This wasn't good at all. His grandmother never took interest in his personal matters before, so as long as he behaved. Normally, Tomo would give….

As if a reminder of his canceled dinner plans, his growling stomach interrupted his thoughts, "Aw man, I forgot about Jirou." Everything just seemed to be piling up on his list of growing concerns: his family, final exams around the corner, and now Jirou.

Tackling one issue at a time, Kaminari went in search for a cup of ramen in the cupboards. The one thing other thing he did have control over at the moment was how well he did on the upcoming exams so might as well get to studying.

Kaminari did his best to spend the night going over exam materials. However, sleep took over and morning came too soon. He rushed to meet up with Sero, Ojirou, Ashido, and Jirou before the group found their way into the Yaoyorozu's palace.

The amount of wealth was grander than what any of them had imagined. However, it also came with the feeling of being too inferior to be in the presence of such high status family. Nonetheless, after meeting Momo's mother the students entered the study hall and spent hours reviewing. In Kaminari's case, it felt more like stressing over the reality of his chances of passing.

Studying at Yaomomo's was more difficult than he expected and it didn't ease his mind that Jirou was obviously upset most of the day. To be honest, Kaminari wasn't sure if it was due to his own actions from the previous day or if something else was on her mind. He made an effort to ask whenever he could but she kept brushing him off.

Kaminari planned to talk to her in private after the study group. That didn't work out because once the session was over the girls announced they were staying a while longer. The guys were forced to bid goodbye and escorted off the premise before they could ask what the girls were up to.

"I wonder if they got along with Yaomomo's mom?" Ojirou questioned aloud. The trio had decided to grab dinner together before parting ways. Partly due to the feeling of exclusion they felt from the girls' sudden after party. "It didn't seem like we were going to get to stay by the way she kept staring at us when we first entered."

"We probably looked too under-dressed to even be standing inside the house," Kaminari chimed in.

"Yeah, but the three of them did leave the room for a while to so who knows what happened then. But, speaking of staring," Sero looked over to Kaminari with a smug look on his face, "It seemed like someone couldn't stop glancing over at Jirou today, huh Kaminari."

Kaminari should have expected this. After Shouji and Jirou, Sero was probably the most observant kid in the class, half of it being with how well he seemed to be able to go unnoticed by others. "She looked upset about something."

Sero was apparently on a mission, continuing to poke at the topic at hand, "Something like what?"

"I don't know. She wouldn't tell me," Frustration becoming evident on Kaminari's face, so Ojirou did his best to intervene.

"Cut him some slack, Sero. There's nothing wrong about being concerned about a friend," Unfortunately, Sero was ready for him.

"Sure, like how you were concerned about Tooru and invited her along to our study session."

"You overheard that? You could give Jirou a run for her money," Ojirou sheepishly said, his usual calm demeanor only slightly wavering.

"I have my ways. I overheard her rejecting your offer before lunch the other day."

Ojirou was quick to go on the defensive, "She didn't reject me. Tooru said that she'd like to but it would be too much of a distraction for her to study with others."

"I didn't say that she rejected you," Sero was obviously having too much fun with this. "Although, it seemed like she was trying to make it up to you by promising to go get ice cream with you after exams."

"Yeah, because that's what friends do. It's the same as how we're going to get dinner now." Kaminari vigorously nodded in agreement with the tail man.

"You guys are either completely clueless or way too stubborn about this," the taper user stated.

"About what?" Ojirou and Kaminari simultaneously asked. A quick glance was exchanged between the two blonds when Sero wasn't looking, confirming a secret pact that they would continue this act until their tape friend was off their backs.

"Clueless. Completely clueless," Sero muttered as he took the lead into the family restaurant. He promised to stop probing and the boys ended up spending more time at the restaurant than intended, trying to avoid their studies and enjoying the last bit of freedom before finals exams began.

The rest of week seemed like such as blur. Kaminari spent most of his free time studying in effort to forget what Sero had inferred. He wasn't completely clueless as his friend assumed, but Jirou was just a friend. A friend that he had to take care of if he remembered what Tomo said correctly.

"Why is everyone trying to start something, geez?" He couldn't help but recall the times he spent over at Jirou's house and the shop. Thinking about her mom's cooking made his mouth water, the funny way her dad would get excited before he would tell the best part of the story would get him buzzed with excitement too, and Marley's deep laugh would fill the whole room with a sense of peace that Kaminari couldn't help but want to spend more time with him.

Jirou was supported by such a loving family, a family that she could smile freeing with and tease because they would love her no matter what. Kaminari was lucky that she was willing to share that with him and he was going to take care of his friendship with her so he could continue to be part of it.

* * *

1)Ah denial, how long is Kaminari going to be at this stage? We shall see… and I think we can officially declare this a slow-burn.

2)I love including Sero because I think he's such a cool character. Won't lie though, he's a bit difficult to write since there isn't a lot of material to fully grasp his personality from but I hope I did him justice!

3)Before you start to wonder when the next chapter (6) will be up, it will be posted within the next few days! It's already written out. I just have to sit down and make final edits… I swear this won't turn into another three week delay.

~Thanks for reading~


	6. Chapter 6

Once it was time for written exams, everyone had luckily passed. It wasn't the same for the painful physical exams. Jirou knew that everyone struggled to win against the teachers, but even she was surprised that a fourth of the class had failed. All of the students were even more surprised by Aizawa-sensei's sudden announcement that the entire class was still going to attend the summer training camp, despite the failing grades.

It was then that Tooru recommended they should all go shopping together. Everyone agreed, with the exception of Bakugo and Todoroki, and decided to gather the next day at the Kiyashi-ward Shopping Mall.

Jirou was one of the last to arrive and noticed how fairly crowded the shopping center was with families and other groups of students. Jirou didn't think much of it, but most of her classmates seemed excited to spend time as a huge group outside of school grounds for the first time. The moment didn't last long as one student after the other started listing off the different items they needed for the upcoming trip.

As Jirou spoke to Yaoyorozu about where they should stop by when she couldn't help but peek over to see where Kaminari was headed off to.

It might have been pure coincidence, but her eyes met his and he was suddenly on his way over. With a giant grin on his face, Kaminari said, "Hey Jirou, where are you headed to?"

"I need to buy a bag to put all my stuff in," she said bluntly, looking down at her phone.

"Oh cool, I was thinking about getting some new shoes, maybe we could-"

"I'm going to hang out with Momo,"

"Huh, oh okay." She could hear the disappointment in his response, but without another word Jirou walked away, "I guess I'll see you later?" Kaminari called out and briefly looked over at Momo before making his way back with the others.

It didn't take long for Yaoyorozu to catch up with Jirou. "That was quite abrupt, even for you Kyouka."

"Trying to make the most of our time," Jirou finally looked up to see her friend's worried face.

"So, it doesn't pertain to anything that might have occurred between the two of you?"

"Nope!"

"Well, I find it a bit odd that the two of you haven't been interacting the same lately."

Jirou could get upset and try to deny it, but it was nearly impossible to get mad at her best friend. After a quick scope of the area to make sure none of her other classmates were in the area, she finally let loose.

"Fine," Admitting it out loud made her realize how childish her grudge seemed. "But it's not a big deal and I'm not mad at him."

"Your actions this week would say otherwise."

Jirou wasn't as concerned about what she was feeling as much as what her classmate in question. As much as Kaminari loved to talk, he rarely ever talked about his own personal troubles. That's why she was still upset over his random departure before their study session and then acted like nothing happened the next day. She spent a minute debating whether or not to bring up the pieces of Kaminari's family problems she had gathered, but decided that it wasn't her place to speak of in the first place.

"I'm just worried about him. If he doesn't start to take things seriously he could be in trouble," It was a general enough statement for her friend to assume that she was speaking about his grades instead of his home life.

"You should talk to Kaminari about this. He might surprise you." Yaoyorozu responded, as if she knew something Jirou didn't.

"We have the training camp to worry about so let's deal with that for now." It was a small white lie to keep her friend from further questioning her. Kaminari was slowly inching his way into her thoughts more often than normal, but she wasn't ready to go into those details yet.

Although the two girls finally continued with their search for supplies, it wasn't too long after that they received a text from Ochako about Midoriya's attack. The entire intercom system began to announce for all shoppers to calmly evacutate but the girls knew that their first goal was to reach the meet up point.

Walking behind Momo, Jirou kept an eye out for a certain electric user among the crowd of people. It was easy to spot a few of her other classmates such Sero and Shouji from afar because of their height. However, she could barely see where they were going as when she heard someone call out her name, "JIROU!"

Jirou spotted Kaminari standing next to an officer with Iida right behind him, intensely scouting the area. She tugged at Momo's shirt to get her attention so they could make their way over to the guys. Most people were heading in the opposite directions towards the nearest train station, but there was a decent amount of people trying to wander about and see what the incident was about.

"Is Midoriya okay ?" Yaoyorozu asked, once they were close enough to be heard. They could just barely make out Midoriya's green hair from behind the yellow tape and line of officers keeping civilians back.

"He was a bit shaken up but it looked like he was okay for the most part" Kaminari confirmed. "We weren't able to speak to him much but it looks like the police have everything under control now."

Jirou then pointed at the two, "Then why haven't both of you left the yet?"

Iida spoke up, although he was still intently looking out into the crowds of people. "As Class President it is my duty to ensure that all of our classmates have left the premise after what has occurred to Midoriya!" He explained as his hands swung frantically in front of him, "I already spoke to the officers and they said it was fine as long we leave once everyone has been accounted for."

"Then I'll stay with you until then," Momo volunteered to act on her duty as Vice President. "Jirou and Kaminari, you two should go before the officers make us all leave."

"But Momo…" Jirou looked over at Kaminari. Instead of backing her up, Kaminari nodded in agreement and grabbed Jirou's hand to escort her away. "Hey!" Kaminari was either ignoring her or a little too focus on getting them away from the scene as quickly as possible. It didn't look like she had much of a choice but to follow his lead for the moment.

His grip was tight but not overbearing while they made their way further from mall. She didn't have a clue as to where they were going, it being the first time she was in the area. She had to admit though that a small part of her felt at ease at how Kaminari was taking the lead for once with confidence, hopefully with a place in mind for their destination.

It was after one too many turns that Jirou noticed they had finally left behind the crowds and that they had been walking in silence a little too long for comfort. "Hey Kaminari… Kaminari…" She tried to get his attention but he didn't seem to notice, "DENKI! Where are you taking me?!" she finally shouted.

He suddenly stopped and looked back at Jirou surprised. "Oh, I guess I didn't say," He pointed at a quaint little shop just a few yards away. "I thought you would want to go somewhere quiet and this place came in mind."

"Erm… thanks. I should probably call my folks before they see the news and freak out," Jirou stared down at her hand, waiting for Kaminari to let go of her.

It took him a moment to notice his fingers still wrapped around hers. Hastily letting go, Kaminari muttered a quick "Sorry!" and awkwardly walked a few feet away to give her some privacy.

 _He was only being considerate. There was nothing to it._

Jirou took out her phone to call her dad, ignoring the fact that Kaminari had failed to acknowledge that she called him by his first name this time. Even though villain attacks had become routine, it was required of students to check in with their parents after any sort of incident. Her dad picked up right away and it didn't take long to explain things. In the end, he said that he would feel better if he were to come and pick her up. Jirou didn't feel it was necessary, but agreed to it for his sake.

Once she was done, Kaminari more than ready to know the details, "How'd your parents take it?"

"It's all good but I sort-of left out the fact about Midoriya being the victim."

"That's probably for the best," Kaminari nodded his head in agreement.

"Yeah," Jirou put her phone away, not sure what else to do. "But the old man insisted on driving here to get me."

Kaminari shuffled his feet, "He'll probably take a while to get. You know, this place has pretty good desserts if you want to grab something to eat."

She looked at the shop and then back at Kaminari, only to let out a sigh. "You could leave if you want. I'll be fine on my own."

"I know, but all of the trains are going to be packed. Besides, I owe you one. Even though I kept begging you to hang out, I was the one that ended up ditching you at the last minute."

Jirou could barely keep back the smile from reaching her lips so she lightly shoved him, "Save it for my dad. He kept asking what I did to make you run away all of a sudden."

"I swear it wasn't because of you!"

"So why did you leave?" Kaminari opened his mouth to respond but Jirou cut him off, "And don't say you were actually studying because you barely passed the written exam thanks to Yaomomo's help."

"There's no point in trying to hide stuff from you huh," He said before that nervous habit of scratching the back of his head appeared. "It was that family stuff I was telling you about,"

"Oh," Jirou really felt stupid now.

"So you were mad at me?"

"Was not," Jirou grumbled. "It was weird seeing you all worked up and then you didn't bring it up when we were at Momo's or at any other point the rest of the week."

"Don't blame me when you were the one that didn't want to talk! Every time I even looked at you, you would tell me to focus or to stop being annoying!" Kaminari argued.

"But was I wrong?" Jirou retorted, waving of the comment, "We're both at fault."

"I'll take that as a win."

"Whatever," All Jirou could think of was Momo telling her that now was the perfect chance to talk things out. "Did everything work out with your family then?"

"Not really," He had a sour look on his face as stuck his hands into his pant pockets. Why was she making an effort to talk to him about it when he obviously didn't want to? As if he knew what she was thinking, Kaminari brought her out of her thoughts. "But, I'm working on it."

That was a start. Despite everything that had gone on that day, she felt a sense of relief. "Then more reason to stuff our face with dessert you're paying for."

"I never said I was paying," His actions contradicted his words as Kaminari opened the door to the shop with a grunt.

"Too bad. You can't say you owe me one and then not pay up," Jirou gave him a cheeky smile to claim victory over their feud and walked in, eager to see a menu.

The two UA-students may have been acting a bit carefree considering the day's circumstance, arguing over whether the matcha or strawberry parfait was better and wondering if there was still time to find the supplies they need for the class trip. However, the constant thought of what dangerous threats a waited for them in the future was becoming ever more apparent.

* * *

 _Long time no see everyone! I guess I took longer than three weeks to update but classes are in session and I am already behind on the designated readings. That being said, let's all just assume that it'll probably be awhile before the next update unless I choose to procrastinate on my assignments as I'm doing so now…. Or, at least until I find some time to post most of the requests I received. Speaking of requests, they are officially closed!_

 _Sorry to have missed it last time, but thank you to all of you awesome people (especially you reddevil47) who have left reviews!_

 _*Warning*Some small spoilers listed below!_

 _bookeater-otaku: I completely agree that the three groups blur and I have definitely been using that to my advantage! There will be a clearly defined answer about Kaminari's grandmother and the other involved individuals in about 2-3 chapters though._

 _Scandinavian S.: Thank you so much x3! I did take that advice to heart and remind myself often that this is for fun so that it doesn't feel like a chore (hence why I take a while to update). I don't want to hate my own story before getting a chance to complete it when the plot line is already done!_

 _This goes for everyone but please feel free to send me any questions/comments that you'd like me to respond to on tumblr:_ _etsukotez_

 _Good luck to everyone in school or maybe starting a new job or even just trying to get through life! Things may get rough but you can do it! Best of luck everyone!_

 _Thanks for reading!~_


	7. Chapter 7

Hello everyone!

Quick note, spoilers for season 3 begin here and even if you don't mind spoilers, some events may appear to be… skimmed over I guess because of what I'm choosing to focus on or, better yet, not focus on pertaining to the canon arc. One more thing, I kept delaying this chapter because the translations have been a bit difficult so I'm posting this as is and I'll try to go back and do some major editing (I will always add content but never cut things out) later on.

I hope you like it and honest opinions are always welcomed!

* * *

Kaminari waved goodbye as the Jirou and her dad drove away. They had offered him a ride home, but he refused as politely as possible with the excuse that he still had things to buy for the class trip. Once the car was out of slight, he went on his way to visit a couple of the nearby shops that were still open. He really did need to buy new shoes for the trip, but more than anything he still didn't feel like going back home. Besides, Kaminari had a feeling that Tomo wasn't wandering too far away at the moment and could hitch a ride with him back home if he really wanted.

A few hours later, Kaminari had what he needed and began his search for Tomo. Most of the shops were closed, or closing at this point, as the street lights began to turn on. He didn't have much on his mind as his eyes drifted along each of the store's windows until something odd caught his attention. It was low at first but the more he walked the more clearly he could hear a song that seemed all too familiar.

The music was coming from a quirky little shop that didn't have a sign out front and had left its door open despite the hot weather. "Excuse me, is anyone here?" Kaminari called out as he stepped inside. He could hear the melody as clear as day inside the store and saw the item that had garnered his attention. It was a small, purple music box that could fit in the palm of his hand. Despite its size, it had beautiful white detailing along the sides and one tiny figure slowly turning in the center, like a lost child walking around in circles.

"Quite beautiful, isn't it?"

"Oh, uh, yeah," Kaminari responded, surprised from the sudden outburst from what must have been the shop owner. "Sorry, I was just looking around."

"I'm sure you were. This music box you happen to come across is quite the popular piece. I've made a dozen or so and this is the only one left."

"Well I hope you find the right buyer for-"

"I'm positive that the particular person you were thinking of when you heard the song would appreciate such a lovely gift."

"If you don't mind me asking, what's your quirk Sir?" Kaminari asked. As strangely pushy and accurate as the storeowner was, he was right that Jirou of all people would probably like something.

"Ohohoho! Aren't you quick? Well, if you must know it's called Pathfinder. I can help people and objects find their way if they aren't where they should be." He picked up the music box and started to walk over the counter.

"So are you going to tell me to buy this so it can go on its way or something?" Kaminari asked as he observed the storeowner wrapped the box in a few pieces of purple tissue paper before delicately tying a ribbon into a bow on top of it.

Once he finished, he placed it in front of Kaminari and spoke. "Not necessarily. Even if you don't purchase it today, it'll eventually find itself in its proper place in due time. However, it could help you out more than you know."

Kaminari looked over the price tag that was removed from the piece and thought that it wasn't worth trying bargain and slipped a bill onto the counter. "Fine, but it doesn't mean you'll being seeing me again."

"I'm never wrong about these things," the owner said, handing Kaminari back his change and bid him good bye. Once Kaminari slipped out of the store, he glanced once down at the gift one last time and went on his way with a smile on his face.

* * *

~The day of the class trip~

Excitement buzzed through the air on the bus as Class 1-A was ready to start their summer camp and the music box Kaminari purchased for Jirou was the last thing on his mind. Or so, he kept telling himself. Unfortunately, the first rest stop quickly proved that camp wasn't going to allow much time for distractions. Getting knocked off a cliff wasn't pleasant to begin with but the earth monsters were no joke to deal with.

As much as everyone wanted to rush through the forest and get to safety, Yaoyorozu was quick to divide the class into groups so that long-distance and short-range fighters were well covered. It was also to make up for the fact that some particular classmates had taken the lead, which left the class divided as so:

· Front [Deku, Bakugo, Todoroki, Iida]

· Top Right [Kouda, Tokoyami,Tsuyu, Satou]

· Top Left [Shouji, Mineta, Ashido, Kirishima]

· Back Left [Ojirou, Hagakure, Jirou, Kaminari]

· Back Right [Momo, Ochako, Sero, Aoyama]

It didn't take long before Iida finally spoke up with a bit of reason to make frequent stops in effort to give everyone a chance to rest. Unfortunately, the creatures would suddenly appear from any given direction meaning the quads had to take turns covering for each other.

The Pussycats must have taken pity on them because the attacks became less and less frequent as time dragged on past the three hour mark of when the class was supposed to have arrived on base. With the sun beginning to set, Kaminari was struggling on his own to try and pace how much power he poured out with each attack. If he wasn't careful, he'd be nothing but dead weight to the group. His fears came true when the class had been split at the moment so half could scout for a possible water source and the other take a breather.

His group and Kirishima's were huddled by an odd formation of rocks when not one or two but more than ten of the monsters rose out of the earth from the north.

"There's too many of them!" Ashido yelled out.

"Out of everyone here there's only one person that can take them down." Kirishima started to explained, pushing Kaminari towards the front.

"What! Me? No way!"

"Kaminari you have to!"

"But I'll be dead weight!"

"JUST DO IT ALREADY!" Jirou shouted, "You're the only one that can save us right now!"

Kaminari glanced over all of his tired teammate and it finally hit him how much faith they had in his abilities. "Fine! Get behind the rocks!" Kaminari warned and once he couldn't see his teammates anymore, he let out every last ounce of power he had left in his body to wipe out the dirt beasts.

A few moments later Kaminari felt completely wiped, surprised that he didn't knock out among the piles of dust surrounding him. "Come on idiot," He felt someone grab him, only to see that Jirou had lightly wrapped one of her jacks around his arm and lead him towards the others. "You did a great job, you know," She snickered while trying to hold back a full-fledged laugh from seeing his zapped out self. "But thanks for doing it even though you didn't want to."

All Kaminari could respond was "Whey, whey" but he was pretty sure that he was better off not letting Jirou know he understood her gratitude. Unknown to his friends, he's often able to remember most of what goes on when he's short circuited, but lacked the ability to properly communicate. Lucky for him though, the moment quickly left his mind as everyone saw the light that signified they were close to the base.

* * *

~Second day of camp~

It was only the second night and everyone already seemed exhausted from all of the backbreaking training they've had to do. Kaminari felt dead tired in both his both and mind from the extra hours of studying Aizawa-sensei had put them through.

Although he wanted to sleep right through the few precious hours he had, sharing the room with the rest of the guys wasn't as much fun as he first thought. Especially with Iida who made such a fuss about getting everyone settled in their sleeping bags, the class prez didn't realize how much noise he was actually making. Kaminari was wide awake with the urge to pee by the time Iida was back in his bed snoring away. He grabbed a hoodie from his bag before creeping out of the room and to the bathrooms. The tired teen knew he had to be careful getting to the other building where the facilities were located. Extra study hours where punishment enough from Aizawa-sensei, Kaminari didn't even want to think what else he could come up with if a teacher caught a student out after hours.

Although rushed, he safely made it to the building before any accidents could occur. Kaminari stepped out and before making his back to the boys' room, he noticed someone sitting at the wooden tables that they ate their meals at. The person must have heard him because they whipped their head around and under the moonlight Kaminari was able to see to earjacks ready to strike.

It was a surprise to see Jirou of all people but she didn't seem bothered to see him and waved an earjack towards him.

Taking the greeting as an invitation, Kaminari walked over to where she was sitting. "Hey, why are you still up?"

"Mina was kicking all over the place so just getting some fresh air until she settles down."

"I guess it is kind of cramped sleeping in the same room with everyone," Kaminari yawned. As much as he wanted to go back to sleep something was telling him that Jirou wasn't all there. Despite it being summer, there was a bit of a chill at night in the mountains and it was obvious she didn't think of that before leaving her room as she was shivering away in her tank top and shorts.

"Why does it have to be so cold?"

"Idiot," Kaminari said and started to mess with the zipper on his sweater.

"Who are you call-" Jirou was cut short by the sweater Kaminari dumped on her head.

"Put it on before you get sick. It's not like they'd cut you any slack if you did anyways."

Jirou stared at the sweater for a moment before putting it on, "Since when have you been such a gentleman?"

"Is that really all the thanks I get for being nice to you?!" Kaminari pouted as he started to take his leave.

It wasn't much higher than a whisper but he was still able to hear the sincere "thank you".

"No problem," It must have been the sudden chill from the night air that was causing his heart to beat so fast. It's not like he was giddy about Jirou wearing his clothes.

"Uh Kaminari?"

"Ya?" He stopped, but avoided turning around. It wasn't as though he was trying to hide his face or anything.

"Nothing, just good night."

"Right. Uh good night," was all he said and left. The whole way back the song from the little music box kept playing in his head.

* * *

~The next day with Jirou~

The third day of training was finally coming to a close and the first camp activity wasn't something Jirou wanted to participate in. Walking into a dark forest to get voluntarily scared by others was not her version of fun.

"I-it can't get any worse, Kyouka!" cheered Tooru, after they passed a head rising from ground, which must have been thanks to Honenuki Juzo's softness quirk. Sadly, Jirou could hear her voice shaking as though the invisible girl was trying to convince herself as well. "We can talk about other stuff while we walk."

"Like what?" The more nervous Jirou became the more intense all of the sounds around her became so some kind of distraction was very welcomed at the moment.

"I don't know, like why Momo thought something was going on between you and Kaminari?"

"Then ask Momo. I told you guys already that nothing's going on between us." The girls had a sleepover the previous night with the girls from Class 1-b. However, to Tooru and Mina's disappointment, there was a lack of romance among their classmates to discuss with the exception of her best friend throwing her name out alongside Kaminari's for some reason.

"Right, right… Just like how nothing happened last night when you should have been in bed?"

Frozen in place, she nervously asked, "You saw that?!"

Tooru giggled. "Well, you weren't the only one Mina woke up with her snoring."

"Look, it was pure coincidence that Kaminari had to pee at the same time I was out there," Jirou explained.

"There's no such thing coincidence, but only the inevitable."

"Pssh, you probably got that out of a manga,"

"Sure did! I swear it must be true though! If you think about everything that our class has gone through in the last few months, it's hard to blame it on bad timing. Everything that's happened must be leading up to something big."

"Okay so then it's not just coincidence that you and Ojirou…" Before Jirou could finish her sentence, her eyesight started to fade and the last thing she heard was the sound of own body hitting the ground.

* * *

Sorry if it seems like I glided over some important scenes or such but please remember that my primary focus is Kaminari and Jirou's relationship (Or shall I say the development of it cuz this is a slow burn people! T-T I sometimes get upset with myself about that too…) I also love all of the action in bnha but I definitely don't have faith in myself to do the fight scenes justice. So yeah... Feedback is always appreciated!

If you'd like to listen to the song the music box was playing look up BTS – "Lost"

There is a music box version of the song which I'm completely in love with at the moment. The kpop fan in me is peeking through, sorry! On a side note, l'll be on winter break starting December 14th and attending a local con that weekend. After that, the 18th I think, I'll focus on writing and releasing (hopefully) a couple of chapters of this and one-shots during my month off of school. So yeah stuff to look forward to over the holidays!

Thanks for reading!


	8. Chapter 8

"Where am I?" Jirou said to herself, unsure of when exactly she had fallen asleep in the first place. The last thing she remembered was walking through the forest with Tooru. "I should find her and get back to the base," she stood up and dusted herself off.

Without even questioning as to what direction to go, Jirou's legs started moving on their own. She was bound to come across someone eventually, right? Although the situation was strange, she kept telling herself that she wasn't worried about the others. "Everyone can take care of themselves."

"Liar!" a voice called out.

Jirou readied her jacks to strike and responded back, "Who said that?"

A child's laugh echoed through the air before the voice called out again, "You don't really think that. You're worried about your friends. Or should I just say one particular friend?"

"Who are you?" Jirou yelled back, a bit unnerved that someone knew exactly what she was thinking.

"I guess you haven't realized it yet," With a simple clap, a little girl (or more like the elementary version of herself) made all of the fog disappear only to show that there was nothing but black as far as the eye could see, "This isn't the camp grounds. We're in your dreams, idiot."

Dazed by a sudden pain that ached throughout her body Jirou fell over and tried to catch her breath.

"Ahh but that pain is probably from whatever made you sleepy in the first place."

Jirou took a moment to steady her breathing. The pain wasn't too bad. It was taking her longer to wrap her mind around what was going on in this so-called dream and what could be happening to her real body.

The mini-her wasn't going to shut-up any time soon and she continued with the questions, "Is it really worth it?"

"What is?"

"The pain, the pressure, and all of this effort and for what?"

"What are you even talking about, damn it!"

The girl wasn't phased by the outburst one little bit and replied,"Becoming a hero."

"Of course it is. It's all I've ever dreamed of doing."

"Liar with a capital L." The kid repeated as she walked around Jirou. "You're scared."

"I'm not-"

"You're scared of dying and becoming another forgotten hero. So why become a hero at all when you have the talent and connections to become a famous musician?"

"I didn't want to do things to easy way."

The little girl sighed and looked right back at her, "Wrong again. You can't lie to me because I know the truth." The brat was spilling out everything Jirou had kept to herself. Was there any point in holding back anymore? If she couldn't trust telling anyone else, she could at least admit it to herself.

"I didn't want to disappoint them. If I picked music and failed then what would I have left?" Jirou choked out.

The child cheered in excitement, "Now we're getting somewhere! So why the hero route?"

"Everyone wants to be a hero." Jirou scoffed, "I thought that if I went the hero route then everything would be different. Of course they encouraged me to follow my dreams but they knew the chance of me going to UA and actually going pro was low. You can't be disappointed if you're already expected to fail."

"But that didn't happen, now did it?"

There was a slight hesitation before Jirou could make herself continue, "No."

"Something happened, remember?" She was mocking herself. Jirou could never forget that day. "The day that you realized that you really did want to be a hero and then you put so much effort into passing that entrance exam. Heh, you're pretty lucky that you had some smarts to start with."

"Why are you… Er-I guess, why I am even bringing this up now?"

"Haven't you noticed that we've been asking questions this entire time? When you ask one you don't always get an answer, and even if you do you just end up with more questions!" The little girl exclaimed as she made a dramatic fall to the ground. "Besides, how am I supposed to know if I'm you?"

"I guess I'll figure it out on my own."

"Well duh! But since you did a good job I can help you out with a little something."

"Geez thanks," she muttered as the kid walked over with her hand out.

"Oh, we're out of time." the child dropped a pair of gold, glass marbles into her hands and giggled before disappearing into the black abyss.

"-looks like she waking up!"

"Let's get her in. You're going to be okay Miss!"

Jirou was startled by all of the commotion, but she couldn't react. Her body felt heavy and keeping her eyes open felt like so much work. There was nothing more for her to do than let darkness take over once again and hope for better dreams this time around.

As Jirou slept away the pain from being poisoned that night, her classmate were question by police as the news reports began there nonstop on coverage of the incident at the camp.

Kaminari was one of the lucky ones who came out uninjured, but the same couldn't be said about his classmates. Everyone who sustained minor or no injuries at all gathered to visit those in the hospital as soon as they were allowed to. Of course Midoriya had been in the gravest condition but it was only justified by all of the brave actions he made during the attack. However, it seemed as though Midoriya wasn't going to let his injuries stop him from doing more after the confrontation with Kirishima during their visit.

Kaminari couldn't leave that room soon enough after the awkward debate over going whether or not to rescue Bakugo. As much as he understood how helpless Kirishima felt during the attack, they were in no position to be getting involved. Although a small part of wanted to go to his Grandmother and get details on the people who kidnapped Bakugo, there was always a price to pay. He had no doubt at this point that she knew this incident was going to happen and was waiting for Kaminari to react. Kaminari sent his silent apologies to Bakugo but he would have to leave his faith with the pros for the time being.

Once they made their way over to the girls' room, Kaminari couldn't help but feel anxious. Jirou had to be stable conditions at this point if they were allowed visits he reminded himself. The knot in his stomach only grew tighter when he saw Tooru but no Jirou in sight.

"Thanks for coming everyone. Jirou is still asleep but I'm sure she appreciates the visit." Tooru strained to say from her bed near the door. There were a few empty more empty beds in the room but one bed by the window had the curtains closed off with what must have been hiding Jirou's body from view. If everyone wasn't worried enough before, looking at Jirou's curtain seemed to have soured the mood even more.

"It would be a waste not to eat the melon you guys brought," the invisible girl broke the ice. It was easy to tell how tired she was by how her voice lacked her usual cheer. Despite that, everyone was thankful and slightly embarrassed that Tooru was trying to keep everyone's spirits up even though she had been one of the injured.

Iida went off in search of a knife and napkins for everyone while chatter started among the students. It wasn't long before the melon was cut, shared, and eaten. Slowly one by one, the students bid their goodbyes until Ojirou, Mina, and Kaminari were left with a sleepy Tooru. "We should probably get out of here and let you rest," said the tailed boy.

"Can't you stay a little while longer Mashirao-kun?" Tooru's sleeve moved towards Ojirou in what must have been her invisible hand grabbing onto his shirt.

"Don't keep her up too long," teased Ashido as she gave Ojirou a push and closed the Tooru's curtain behind him to give them a bit of privacy. "Now there's just you Kaminari!"

"W-what about me?" Kaminari stuttered as he looked away from Mina's smirking face. Unfortunately, he looked back in the same direction he had been checking every five minutes of the last hour.

"Fine, I'll say it out loud for you. Go talk to Jirou. I know she's still asleep but they say that talking to a person can help them wake up," Mina dragged Kaminari over to the chair by Jirou's bed. "I'll take my leave now so make sure to fill her in on the details," She said and was out the door.

Kaminari didn't know what to do. He couldn't see her but he felt like talking out loud couldn't hurt, "Um…. Hey Kyouka?" Her first name slipped out so much easier than he expected. Denki had noticed each and every time Kyouka had called out his own name. Whether she was only teasing him or if she simply felt comfortable enough with him in private to use it, Kaminari felt too embarrassed to ask. "Things have been pretty hectic out there."

Kaminari stared down at his hands, wondering if there was more he could have done that night. "Bakugo is missing and Kirishima wants to go rescue him but I think it's because we were so helpless during the attack. Maybe if we weren't in that remedial class things would have been different. Damn it, I guess I am useless," he sighed.

"Denki," Jirou yawned out while using one of her earjacks to slide the sheet that was keeping the two from seeing each other. "You're not useless."

"Jirou! You're awake?! You're awake! Should I call the nurse? Or your parents first?"

"Did Tooru or the nurse not tell you?" Jirou began to explain as she sat up. "I was just sleeping because of the meds. Bakugo could come in swearing up a storm and I'd sleep through it with the drugs they're giving us," Her skin was paler than usual and her voice held the same tired strain as the other girl.

"I guess it's my turn to ask but did no one tell you about Bakugo?" He wasn't sure if she heard his little talk or not, but she was going to have to find out eventually.

"There's no way for me not to know. It's the only thing anyone is talking about," Jirou complained. "It could be the effects of the poison or maybe because I slept through the whole thing but-"

"None of it seems real," Kaminari finished off. "Well, there isn't anything we can do at this point but maybe you should take it easy. You still have a ways to go before fully recovering."

Jirou grunted out an "I'm fine." before letting out her true thoughts "we're supposed to be heroes in training but every time something happens we end up as victims instead. It makes you wonder if going through all of this is worth it," Jirou scoffed. The sudden memory of the weird dream she had must have overwhelmed her. She began to rub the temples to try and calm the oncoming headache.

"Stop lying to yourself." Kaminari scooted his seat closer to the bed and reached out to place the back of his hand on her forehead. "You're one of the last people I expected to say shit like that! You probably have a fever…" The sudden rage Kaminari felt from Jirou's comment disappeared as quickly as it came when he saw Jirou's wide-eye stare.

"D-Denki?"

"Kyouka, I-"

"Hey kiddo are you up yet?" Jirou's parent's walked in through the door to see a scene neither teen knew what to make of.

"Ah no fever! Sorry, I didn't know your parents were coming! I'll just leave now," Kaminari was sweating bullets, but before he could get out of the chair he felt a cold poke to his forehead.

"You don't have to go," Jirou mumbled as she tapped Kaminari once more with her earjack.

"More like it's not like we're letting you leave now!" Jirou's dad said with an angry smirk on his face. Kyoutoku hussled across the room to place a hand on Kaminari's shoulder before the boy could say another word. "We'll have a nice chat later Denki-boy, but for now you're joining in on family time."

Kaminari wasn't sure if he should be happy about spending time with the Jirou family or scared of what Kyoutoku wanted to talk about or possibly a little of both. However, he was sure that he thankful for Jirou's mom who was quick to change the mood and would rather ask about what music he had listened to recently than to ask about whatever scene it looked like they walked into.

* * *

Happy New Year! (I know I'm a little late, sorry!)

Thank you so much to everyone who enjoyed reading my work and have shown their support throughout the year! I look forward to writing more and posting even more Kamijirou content for you all! This is coming after realizing that I've written over 20 stories on this ship alone but haven't completed/posted most of them just because I didn't think they were worth posting. That's going to change now since weekly updates are my number one goal for 2018! I'm not set on a specific day of a week yet but its happening people!

Wishing you all a Happy New Year and best of luck with your own resolutions!~

~Thanks for reading!~


	9. Chapter 9

Grab onto your blankets because this is one heavy chapter! Heavy as in dialogue heavy and emotionally heavy but so that some answers can finally be revealed! ...while maybe a few more questions will arise? Is this chapter worth the long wait? Well read on ahead and you let me know in the reviews! Enjoy!

* * *

Tired from spending the day with the Jirou family, Kaminari slumped right into bed as soon as he arrived home. It was still early evening but he was still full from the various snacks Jirou's mother had brought along with her so that he was now in a complete state of bliss. It also helped knowing that Jirou was to be discharged from the hospital the next morning. There were still plenty of things to stress over, but that at least helped him relax enough to fall asleep.

After grabbing the remote, Kaminari turned on the TV and raised the volume just enough to hear the new anchor. UA's well-known status was both a privilege and a curse since every channel was reporting the same details over Bakugo's kidnapping.

A slight tinge of guilt coursed through Kaminari as he thought of whether or not the others went through with Kirishima's plan. Yet, the guilt wasn't enough to keep him up since sleep soon took over his mind.

Dreams full of screaming people were, unfortunately, a common occurrence for Kaminari. On nights like those, he'd wake up to his pillow over his ears, trying to muffle out the cries of people from his memories that Grandmother had to deal with. This morning was unlike any other. While Kaminari slowly removed his pillow, the screams didn't stop. His eyes quickly scanned the room until he stopped on his television.

The early morning sun lit up the room with a warm glow despite the tragedy being covered on the TV. The number of deaths and injured were still uncertain as emergency response teams were actively searching away amongst the rubble.

A few things were certain though. Bakugo was rescued and now safe in police custody. A major villain was defeated and also in police custody and...

All Might was officially deemed unfit to continue hero activities and forced to retire.

The pillar of hope was no more.

The news continued on about a few other high ranking Heroes and Heroines that were severely injured and their return to Hero work was questionable, but Kaminari didn't want to know anymore. The only thing that kept running through his mind was his Grandmother's warning from her most recent visit.

Everything was going to change from here on out and his Grandmother had known. Whether or not she took part in it was something he needed to confirm.

Not even bothering to change, Kaminari pocketed the same package his Grandmother had left behind and raced out of his room towards the entrance to grab his shoes. He wasn't expecting to find Tomo casually leaning against the door with his signature know-it-all smirk across his face.

"Tomo."

"Good morning Sir. Did you finally see the chaos that has brought the nation to ruins overnight?" Tomo's voice on the edge of some twisted amusement. "The Boss expected that you'd want to see her today because of the incident and to keep your word."

With a quick grab of the hands and poof of thick smoke, the two were no longer in the modest home Kaminari's mother had left him behind. He was back at his Grandmother's compound for the first time in three years.

Without any food in his stomach, the usual post-teleporting nausea was absent. Instead, Kaminari took in the wooden floors that creaked with each step he took. The child in him still winced at the noise because punishment would ensue if he were caught sneaking throughout the halls. It was like nothing had changed over the years in the secluded mountains where the traditional Japanese residence stood.

Today, however, Kaminari didn't need to worry about hiding his presence. Although everything appeared calm, there was no knowing what kind of welcome party Grandmother would have in stored for him.

"Where is she?"

"You know as well as I do that the boss does not discuss matters to just any individual." Tomo was playing a game that Kaminari didn't want to play. He was set up to fail from the start.

"Tomo, I need to know if you guys were involved in this."

"Questions regarding any actions that the company may or may have not been involved in cannot be disclosed unless the individual is a designated member of the household."

"I'm not asking as a friend. I'm requesting the answer."

The smirk on the transporter's face only widen with the statement. "Very well, sir. Please remember the weight of your words."

Kaminari wasn't expecting the second trip to send him into his Grandmother's private study. The conference room or one of the multiple interrogations was the typical place for these types of talks, but she apparently had other plans. Kaminari broke the silence, "Hello Grandmother, I came as you requested." Kaminari slightly bowed as he stood in front of her desk. Aside from the desk, and the chair his grandmother was sitting on, there was nothing else in the white room except for one large file cabinet.

"Yes, and we have quite a few things to talk about. Let's start off with your health. It appears that you escaped unharmed from now two villain attacks on UA."

"Yes, but that doesn't matter."

The tiny old woman was not phased, "Health always matters. If I recall correctly, the friend you often accompany after school to the music store was one of the injured, was she not?"

"Leave her out of this," Kaminari set off a few sparks to show he was serious.

"Was that a threat? Oh my, you can certainly do better than that. Especially if I were to say that her parents' are surprisingly well connected for such lowly musicians. Ah, but that Marley is far more interesting with his little shop and his colorful past."

"They have nothing to do with this. They've been nothing but kind to me so leave them alone," he said, fully noting that it came out less threatening then the previous statement. Marley's past was a huge unknown not only to him but to Jirou too. As tempted as he was to take the bait, Kaminari had to stay focused.

"You have always been quick to follow anyone who showered you with a bit of affection. But, as long as this discussion goes accordingly, they well be left untouched. Let's finish this idle talk and get to why are you truly here. We had no involvement in Kamino or in the attack during your little school trip."

A weight was instantly lifted off of his shoulders. "Thank you."

"And, I see you brought along my gift." It was the first time Kaminari saw her show any form of interest towards him. Too bad it was going to be short-lived.

"Yes, I'm here to return it." Kaminari placed the open package on the desk. A fake passport and a few other documents had been tucked away in there for the past few weeks.

"Why would you do such a thing? You are aware of what will occur now that All Might has been defeated in Kamino?"

Kaminari could waste his breath in arguing that All Might won the battle, but that would be pointless. This was a war. A war divided by what side of the law you stood on and the side that stands by the legal system just lost their greatest hero ever to exist. He didn't know how, but his grandmother knew this ahead of time and had prepared.

"I also know that your institution will require you to reside within a campus residence once they allow students to return. It will be announced to the public within a day or so at the latest. With UA's reputation crumbling to pieces and the people losing faith in the hero system, your future as a hero will lead to nowhere."

"You don't know that!" Kaminari yelled. "I can try to balance things out and do something good for the world."

"Balance you say? A humorless joke. What we do in this business is bring balance to the world. We keep the balance by punishing those who live by their own accord and believe that life holds no consequences for them. Does money or a hero licence define if an action is considered good or evil? Sparks began to fly from the woman's body as she tried to regain her composure."Take back the will be leaving in a few days with Tomo to one of our overseas residences. It is time for you to stop with this ridiculous hero talk and return to the proper training you have missed over the years."

"And what then?"

"Once you have made enough progress and the conditions are right, I will allow for your return."

"You're right, you are totally right Gramps," Kaminari slowly clapped for emphasis.

"Beg your pardon?"

"This whole thing is ridiculous so we both might as well be done with it all. I don't want your money anymore. I don't need your protection. I'm leaving for good this time. UA is my new home and that's where I belong."

"You are not the one who gets to make that decision."

It was as though Kaminari was thrown back three years in time. Nothing has changed since the day he left.

Flashback

 _"This is not a negotiation. If you want to continue to live in this household, you must learn what it means to truly hold power in this world." Grandmother spoke with a tone of annoyance. She had already punished him once that day of failing to behave. Her fingers tapped along her desk as she prepared for the second time._

 _"What if I don't want to live here anymore?" Tears were streaming down Kaminari's face, but there was nothing he could do to hold back. "I don't want power either! I want to have a normal life!"_

 _"You are not the one who gets to make that decision."_

 _"Please! I'll come back but let me live a normal life for a little while" Kaminari dropped to his knees and bowed. "Just a few years and I'll come back!"_

 _His grandmother remained silent far longer than Kaminari knew what to do. When he looked up, she had sighed. "Arrangements will be made, but until then you must refrain from unnecessary mischief. Once you come back, there will be no more complaining."_

End of Flashback

"I don't know why you're even going through all of this trouble when you have Tomo and at least five others that are more than ready to be in charged," he sneered. "If anything, they're all waiting for you to drop dead so they can take over!"

Before Kaminari could even blink, his body was sent crashing towards the floor as his lungs gasped for air and his vision blurred. With so much tension in the air, Kaminari forgot to account that while Tomo was his friend, Tomo wouldn't let anyone disrespect the person he took him in.

"That's enough," the elderly women said tiredly.

Kaminari was putting everything on the line so might as well say it all. "Did you ever... once think of me as your grandson?' He struggled to talk. Kaminari was frustrated but he wouldn't give her the benefit of seeing him in tears again."I don't think you ever even liked me. So why the hell would you want me to take over this damn business! Is my damn quirk all that matters to you?"

He said it. Kaminari finally said. What had been chewing away at him for years was finally out in the open.

"Tsk, I thought you were ready to rejoin us... and you came here for such nonsense." She motioned towards Tomo and he quickly crossed the room before she was out of her seat. "Your father was more than capable of continuing on my legacy when he was not much older than yourself. The only thing that remains of him now is your quirk."

"There's more to me than just my stupid quirk."

"When you finally realize the truth of the pitiful life you have chosen, you should come back. That is, after you have endured the proper consequences."

The discussion was over. There was no more arguing because with a wave of a finger Tomo had grabbed a hold of Kaminari and they were back in Kaminari's home with his whole body aching in search of rest.

Kaminari looked up see teleporter without his smirk for the first time. "You'll regret this."

"No, it's the best decision I've ever made," Was the last thing Kaminari was able to say before he blacked out.

* * *

Hey everyone!

It's been a while.. T-T

Addressing the pink elephant in the room, the weekly schedule was a failure to begin with and is no longer a goal if it wasn't obvious enough. -sigh-

A thousand sorry's for taking so long to update and just as reassurance, I won't be abandoning this fic under any circumstances! I'm honestly way too committed to this ship and this fic in general to not see it through to the very end. Let's just all hope that I can finish this some time this year!

Thank you for reading and special thanks to everyone who's left a review! If you ever want to leave an anonymous review or want me to respond back then feel free to drop by in my ask box on tumblr - etsukotez


	10. Chapter 10

Frustrated by the day's events, Tomo loosened his tie before dragging Kaminari to his room. Ever since the brat was placed under his watch, he's been nothing but trouble to the household. The teleporter dropped Kaminari onto his bed and got a slight groan in response. The young boy would sleep it off as he always did and be up in an hour.

"Get it together already," Tomo muttered. Jealousy had always boiled deep within him since Kaminari came to live at the household. He was too young and naive at that point to understand what the business was but he knew well enough to keep his mouth shut.

The Boss spent all of her free time preparing Kaminari for his future role. Some would call it training, others torture. Everyone knew that her training was the reason for the kid's issue with short circuiting. She kept pushing him and pushing him to be stronger but it was too much for Kaminari to handle at a young age. Yet, training was nothing compared to the actual pain Tomo endured to survive job after job.

After a quick glance at his watch, Tomo took a deep breath and pressed pause on memory lane. It was time to go back to the daily activities at the household once again.

Everyone else would get their jobs through the consulting firm where clients brought their demands. Typically, it was politicians looking for black mail on their competitors or way to hide their own filth from the public. Same as how low ranking Heroes themselves came for help expose one of their own for their own personal gains. The Boss only took jobs that sought out truth for the right price. Even among the shadows a level of trust was expected. You could only establish trust if you were well informed though.

This was how the Boss was able to gain recruits so easily. There were frequent requests to seek out people who had abandoned contracts, debts of significant amounts, or held secrets worth dying for. That was how his own parents became involved with the Boss. Unable to payback a loan shark, the Boss was hired to track them down but she gave them an opportunity to join her organization at the cost of their undying loyalty and use of quirks.

His parents never left her hand until death grabbed them for itself. It was then that Tomo had no choice but to continue on in their place. It was really more of a company than a family but the Boss and the rest of the group helped him survive and he would forever be grateful for that.

However, as intense as the Boss and the clients may be at times, it was all starting to become boring. Using his quirk for these dirty jobs and chasing after this malfunctioning battery seemed like such a waste of his time. If the rest of the world was preparing for change, why couldn't he have a little fun along the way as well?

 **A few days later**

It was already noon when Kaminari finally awoke from the hunger. Home was the last place he wanted to be so Kaminari quickly looked for whatever clean clothes he could find among the packed boxes in his room. The notice about living in the dorms arrived only a few hours after the discussion with his grandmother. It wasn't too long after that he also received an eviction notice from a contractor who had purchased his home that same day.

Once he was ready he took out his phone and started to scroll through his options. Kirishima would typically be his go to person but with the Bakugo situation going on he was better off leaving him be. Chances were that his red-haired friend was probably trying to get in touch Bakugo if he wasn't somehow already involved with the rescue.

Kaminari sighed and put down his phone. All of his classmates would probably be spending time with their families considering how scared the Kamino incident left the whole country despite reassurance from hero agencies.

"I wonder if Jirou's okay," Kaminari muttered to himself. The last time he spoke to her was at the hospital. Kaminari was already uncomfortable with how much Jirou already knew about his personal life and he didn't want to get her any more involved than she already was. However, a spark ran through his body when he remembered how close his face was to hers.

His phone started to buzz and it was none other than the girl in question.

 _J: Hey are you holding up?_

 _K: Yeah_

 _J:My folks were worried about you since you live alone._

 _J:If you're not busy packing, you could come over for dinner if you want_

To be honest, Kaminari had thrown all of the clothes he owned into boxes and decided to deal with sorting the rest of his stuff out later. He wasn't going to turn down a home cooked meal with Jirou for that.

 _K: I'll be there soon_

Right before leaving the room, a flash of purple caught his eye. The music box was still sitting on his desk. Jirou was taking steps to comfort him when it should be the other way around. He grabbed the gift before his brain could completely change his mind.

The trip to Jirou's home was relatively quick, as he spent most of his time debating whether he should tell Jirou about what went on with his grandmother. Her safety was at risk because of him but more than anything he felt as though the lies would continue to pile up if he kept this from her.

The empty feeling in Kaminari's chest was part of the routine he got use to as a kid, but after making friends at UA and living with Jirou's company, this time it hurt.

He lost his home.

He lost his family.

He was completely on his own now.

"What are you doing?"

While lost in thought, his feet had led him down the familiar path to where Jirou was already waiting to greet him. The concern in her eyes only made his chest hurt even more. The music box in his pocket suddenly felt heavy as Kaminari found an excuse to speak.

"Here, this is for you." His classmate seemed surprised by the gift but carefully accepted it and opened it for the music to flow out into the world.

"It's beautiful," Jirou said, not holding back a smile of pure joy.

"I-In return, can I borrow your shoulder for a sec," Kaminari whispered. "Please…"

It was all too much for him to deal with.

He made Jirou and her family a target without them even knowing.

Was he really allowed to be happy and stand by their side? There were no tears, only the sense of dread clinging to his soul.

"I don't know what's going on but," Jirou said as she carefully wrapped her arms around his shoulders. "It looks like you need more than a shoulder." She whispered back into his ear.

Kaminari closed his eyes in hopes of making the moment linger just a bit longer. It never occurred to him how small Jirou actually was, but being there in her arms reassured him that everything was going to turn out fine. He would make of sure it.

"Sorry," was all he could say.

Jirou squeezed him a little tighter, "For what?"

It was a simple question that seemed too difficult for Kaminari to answer at the moment. He needed to tell her the truth.

"For everything," but this was a start.

* * *

I know, I know it's been 20 years and you hate me. That's okay, I hate me too for letting this much time pass. Long story short, a few personal challenges got in the way that made me feel guilty if I wasn't focusing on those issues but then I felt guilty for not updating the stories so yay for a never ending cycle of guilt!

Now I'm here posting this thanks to you lovely people who have left reviews despite me being quiet this whole time. Honestly, thank you for all of your support and I hope the second half of this fic lives up to the expectations that have been building up over the last year.

Oh and final note, I did do a name change from CP Dreams to AwkwardAvellana. Same person, different name.

Thanks for reading!


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